Trip the light

SUPER EGOOh, Andy Warhol, your profile Polaroid is, like, 10 days old. We need immediate updation! Curious, though, how we seem to be moving away from digital club photography as mere virtual portraiture suitable for Facebook framing — and more toward an experimental hyperrealism that treats Clubland as a given medium. What better place to try out new effects than on the dance floor? Cabbage patch that F-stop! Here are three photogs who really caught my eye this year, and added a new dimension to club flash.

SADIE MELLERIO

"I am captivated by the documentation of performances and people in the new wave, dark synth, and electro music scenes that I care so much about. My objective is to capture all the elements that create the mood of an event: performers, people, lighting, dancing, space, fashion. While I shoot at least one show or club event a week for myself, I have shot professionally for New Wave City, Fringe, Temptation, and Gossip."

Dancer at Lords of Acid show, DNA Lounge

Sean Heskett and Ricky Wayne Garrett of Inferno of Joy[3] (check them out here[4]), Club Gossip, Cat Club

CABURE A BONUGLI (SHOT IN THE CITY)

"I started off by shooting mostly bands in Austin, which is where I found my love for low light photography. I wanted to capture shows without interrupting the mood. I've lived in SF for a year — and with the music scene being so underground, I've turned my lens to drag queen performance artists. The lengths some of them go to, and the amount of thought they put into their acts, still blows me away."

April Mei Joon at "9/11 in July," Some Thing, The Stud

Fireworks outside The Tubesteak Connection, Aunt Charlie's Lounge

ISAAC BENJAMIN

"I started studying photography in 1993. It has been a consistent passion of mine since then. I met Juanita More in 2002 and have been working with her since. I currently take portraits of the personalities who attend her and Joshua J's club Booty Call Wednesdays at Qbar."